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" Before you're a writer, you're a citizen, a human being, and therefore the weapons of the citizen are at your disposal to use or not use. "

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" I'm not sure I'm trying to communicate a message. I'm just trying to be part of the movement away from the unacceptable present. "

" An excessive amount of my time is taken with political involvement. It's unavoidable; that's my temperament. "

" I don't know any other way to live but to wake up every day armed with my convictions, not yielding them to the threat of danger and to the power and force of people who might despise me. "

" Very conscious of the fact that an effort was being made to destroy my mind, because I was deprived of books, deprived of any means of writing, deprived of human companionship. You never know how much you need it until you're deprived of it. "

" Each time I think I've created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space. "

" I ceased using words like optimism and pessimism a long time ago. "

" Art is solace; art is vision, and when I pick up a literary work, I am a consumer of literature for its own sake. "

" No writer has a right to make that much money. Indeed, without diabolical assistance, no writer can. "

" Writing in certain environments carries with it an occupational risk. "

" An idyllic period of my existence was when I had a den attached to my home... a writing den, and no one had access to that unless they had their own special visa, applied for weeks in advance. "

" The hand that dips into the bottom of the pot will eat the biggest snail. "

" We Nigerians must reclaim our sovereignty, our civic entitlements. "

" Probably to me the greatest singer, female voice, is Billie Holiday. And one of the most moving for me, I don't know why - maybe it's nostalgia, maybe because my life is one of constant partying, whatever. "

" All religions accept that there is something called 'criminality.' And criminality cannot be excused by religious fervour. "

" Politics, I believe, is a full-time occupation. "

" I consider the process of gestation just as important as when you're actually sitting down putting words to the paper. "

" The novel, for me, was an accident. I really don't consider myself a novelist. "

" One has to confront history honestly. "

" The problem with literature, with writing, is that it works sometimes in terms of correction of social ills. Other times, it just does not suffice. "

" I like my peace and quiet whenever I can grab it. "

" Being the first black Nobel laureate, and the first African, the African world considered me personal property. I lost the remaining shreds of my anonymity, even to walk a few yards in London, Paris or Frankfurt without being stopped. "

" African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance. "

" Power is domination, control, and therefore a very selective form of truth which is a lie. "

" Some African leaders actually dare to suggest that democracy is a concept alien to traditional African society. This is one of the most impudent political blasphemies I can think of. "

" Rwanda, which is one of the younger independent states in Africa, must be regarded as a model of how great human trauma can be transformed to commence true reconstruction of people. Human trauma can lead to stunted growth and mass withdrawal. "

" I've done a lot of guerrilla theater in my time. "

" For me, justice is the prime condition of humanity. "

" In the world of literature, I see prizes as more of a duty to the craft itself, rather than as something for the individual. "

" There is not a special imposition on writers to be activists. All that does is encourage writers to write propaganda. Propaganda can be written by anybody, including dictators. "

" I'm not fond of biographies. I don't like writing about myself. "